- USS Nahant (1862)
The first USS "Nahant" was a "Passaic"-class
ironclad monitor of theU.S. Navy that saw service in theAmerican Civil War and theSpanish-American War ."Nahant" was launched
October 7 ,1862 , by Harrison Loring, South Boston,Massachusetts , and commissionedDecember 29 ,1862 , withCommander John Downes in command.Operational history
Civil War
Fort McAllister
The new single-turreted monitor joined the
South Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Port Royal Harbor,South Carolina , onFebruary 20 ,1863 , and saw her first action in the Union bombardment ofFort McAllister onMarch 3 .Charleston
A little over a month later, she participated in
Rear Admiral Samuel Francis du Pont ’s valiant but ill-fated attack onCharleston, South Carolina . The ironclads crossed Stono Bar and entered Charleston Harbor onApril 6 , but a heavy fog stopped their advance lest they run aground attempting to negotiate the tricky channels leading to the vital Confederate port. Though dawn broke clear the next morning, an ebb tide kept the warships from getting underway until noon. Shortly after 3 o’clock, "Weehawken"'s guns opened onFort Sumter , and through the afternoon Du Pont's ships stubbornly hammered at Confederate batteries while withstanding the intense and accurate converging fire of the Southern cannon.With darkness approaching and his ironclads severely battered, Du Pont broke off the action, determined to return to the fray at daybreak. However, that night reports from his captains of the serious damage suffered by their ships convinced the Admiral that the small chance of success of another attack did not justify the great risk to his squadron.
In the fighting, "Nahant" had been hit 36 times, disabling her turret and breaking off a large piece of iron inside her pilot house, killing her helmsman and wounding her pilot. The next day, with her sister monitors, she retired to Port Royal for repairs.
"CSS Atlanta" engagement
On
June 10 , after intelligence reports indicated that the ram CSS "Atlanta" was preparing to attack wooden blockader "Cimarron", Du Pont ordered "Weehawken", Captain John Rodgers, and "Nahant" toWassaw Sound , Georgia to await the powerful ironclad ram. Shortly before dawn, a week later, "Atlanta", accompanied by stern wheel gunboat CSS "Isondiga" and ram CSS "Resolute", steamed down theWilmington River and entered Wassaw Sound to attack the monitors. The Confederate flagship carried a torpedo projecting from her bow, hoping to explode it against one of the monitors before dispatching the other with her guns.Seeing the Southern ships approach, "Weehawken" and "Nahant" headed in to accept the challenge. As the adversaries closed to fighting range, "Atlanta" was first to fire, but soon ran aground, where she could not aim her guns effectively. The monitors held their fire until within 200 yards. "Weehawken" then quickly put five rounds from her heavy guns into the ram. With two of his guns out of action, two of his three pilots severely wounded, and his ship hard aground, Commander
William A. Webb , CSN, was compelled to surrender "Atlanta" while her escorts scurried to safety. "Atlanta" was subsequently purchased from a prize court by the Federal Government and commissioned in the Union Navy.Blockade duty
Early in July, after he had taken command of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Rear Admiral
John A. Dahlgren ordered the monitors back to Charleston harbor. "Nahant", now under the command ofWilliam Kennon Mayo , and her sisters bombarded Confederate works onMorris Island onJuly 10 , supporting and covering the landing of Army troops. For almost two months, the shelling continued until the steadfast defenders were finally compelled to abandonBattery Wagner , their last position on the island, onSeptember 6 .In ensuing months, "Nahant" continued operations in the vicinity of Charleston, patrolling, enforcing the blockade, and bombarding Confederate positions ashore. On
November 15 she joined "Lehigh" in supporting the Union Army at Cumming’s Point on Morris Island during a heavy evening bombardment fromFort Moultrie . The next day, despite heavy shelling from shore batteries, she helped refloat "Lehigh" after her sister monitor had run aground.On
February 2 ,1865 , "Nahant" joined "Lehigh" and "Passaic" in shelling the Confederateblockade runner "Presto" after the blockade runner had run ashore under the batteries of Fort Moultrie. After three days of shelling, the hulk was completely destroyed.panish-American War
"Nahant" decommissioned at
Philadelphia ,Pennsylvania onAugust 11 ,1865 . While laid up, she was renamed "Atlas" onJune 15 ,1869 , but resumed the name "Nahant" onAugust 10 . The veteran monitor recommissioned atLeague Island onApril 12 ,1898 and steamed toNew York City for harbor defense during the Spanish-American War. "Nahant" decommissioned at League Island and was laid up there until sold onApril 6 ,1904 , to L. E. Hunt ofMelrose, Massachusetts .ee also
See USS "Nahant" for other ships of this name.
* USS "Atlas" (ARL-7)References
DANFS
"Additional technical data from" cite book
last = Gardiner
first = Robert
coauthors =
title = Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905
publisher = Conway Maritime Press
date = 1979
pages = p. 120
month =
isbn = 0 85177 133 5External links
* [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/n1/nahant-i.htm history.navy.mil: USS "Nahant"]
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/nahant.htm navsource.org: USS "Nahant"]
* [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/monitors/nahant.htm hazegray.org: USS "Nahant"]
* [http://ga.water.usgs.gov/olympics/sav.yacht.250drg.html Map of Wassaw Sound area]
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